Kenan Evren

Türkiye commemorated the 41st anniversary of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup during which then-Chief of the General Staff Kenan Evren toppled the coalition government of Süleyman Demirel and dismissed the Turkish Parliament.

A painting made by Kenan Evren, who was once the leader of Turkey's military coup of 1980 and president of the country for seven years, was put up for sale at an auction in the capital Ankara for 2,500 Turkish Liras ($340) two weeks ago but still could not find a buyer.

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of “False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East.”

Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev recently appointed his wife as the country's first ever vice-president. His elected colleagues greeted this decision with a standing ovation. 

Aliyev won 87 percent of the vote at the last election. He is seen as a "secular" statesman and his wife Mihriban Aliyeva is a modern woman who has dedicated herself to social matters. 

Turkey's Supreme Election Board (YSK) has announced constitutional referendum will be hold on April 16, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.
Head of Turkey's Supreme Election Board Sadi Güven confirmed the date of constitutional referendum as April 16. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan approved on Feb. 10 constitutional amendments that will bring drastic changes to the country's political system, including a shift to an executive presidential system from the current parliamentary system.

The package will now be put to a referendum, likely on April 16, in accordance with a date to be selected by the Supreme Election Board (YSK).

The Turkish parliament sent the constitutional amendments that will bring drastic changes to the country's political system for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's approval on Feb. 2, 12 days after it passed the parliament by exceeding the 330-vote threshold to bring it to a referendum. 

"The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind," writes John Maynard Keynes in the opening sentence of The Economic Consequences of the Peace. "Very few of us realize with conviction the intensely unusual, unstable, complicated, unreliable, temporary nature of the … organization by which Western Europe has lived for the last half century."

Last weekend, one thing led to another and we found ourselves watching a documentary on events that led to the 1980 military coup in Turkey. I could not have asked for anything better. It was almost like reliving 30 years ago today. And I started to remember.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu insisted on calling President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an a "sham dictator" in his weekly address to party MPs on Jan. 19, while slamming Erdo?an for "spending too much."